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Veterans for Peace Ireland lay wreath in Dublin printable version

10 Nov 2015: posted by the editor - Ireland

By Edward Horgan
Remembering – lest we forget – the destruction and stupidity of war
On Tuesday 10 November Veterans for Peace (VfP) Ireland lay a wreath of white poppies as a symbol of peace at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin’s Parnell Square.

Up to recently Veterans for Peace www.veteransforpeace.org has been an exclusively U.S. based organisation with over 6,000 members, but has been expanding its peace promotion and anti-war activities internationally. An Irish Chapter of Veterans for Peace was established in 2014.

Four U.S. members of VfP will be attending including President of Board of VfP Barry Ladendorf. Barry is a former senior officer of the US Navy and former Deputy Attorney General, California, and Adjunct Professor of Law, University of San Diego.

Veterans for Peace are very respectful of all those soldiers and civilians who were killed and injured in wars, but we are convinced that, especially in this era of weapons of mass destruction, wars are no longer acceptable and are hugely counterproductive.

The present chaos in the Middle East has been mainly caused by irresponsible and illegal wars waged under the false banner of humanitarian intervention, just as World War One was justified in Ireland as a war “in defence of small nations”

The mosaic under the water feature in the Garden of remembrance depicts the Celtic custom after battle, when weapons were broken and cast into a river, to signify peace.

World War One ended on the 11th hour of 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.

French Field Marshal Joffre said: “If the women in the factories stopped work for twenty minutes, the Allies would lose the war.” The arms industry, in Ireland and elsewhere and workers at forward air bases such as Shannon airport are fuelling wars in the Middle East, causing tens of thousands of deaths and millions of refugees.

The conflicts in the Middle East have sent refugees fleeing for refuge to neighbouring states and to Europe. The solution to this refugee crisis is to make peace in the Middle East and to stop making wars.

Perhaps now is the time to rewrite Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: “a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace” by removing the time for hate and war, and transferring the trillions of dollars wasted on armaments and making war, towards making peace instead.

Spokesperson for Veterans for Peace Ireland Edward Horgan believes “soldiers who died in WW1 were, for the most part, not heroes, but victims who were conned by their leaders. Those who were shot at dawn due to post traumatic stress were not cowards. They too were victims of war.”

Tags: Veterans For Peace, Dublin, Irish Anti-War Movement

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